Lite-On External USB 8x DVDRW eNAU108-111

The Lite-On eNAU108 is a well designed slim USB external optical drive supporting everything except Bluray. It won't win any speed contests, but it is a perfect companion to the road warrior without an optical drive.

Page 4: Testing, Conclusion

One thing to note is that this drive isn't targeted to the ultra high performance market. It is a value segment slim drive and as such was tested in a way that would mimic its targeted use. To do this, it was used to burn data CDs and DVDs along with some other tasks such as installing operating systems and software. The drive won't win any speed contests, but it burned our media as fast as the media could handle. Even on bad media, the drive performed well, the data was fine on the disk.

On a personal note, this drive performed well in a specific situation when one of my drives was causing all kinds of problems. The eNAU108 gave the computer the ability to install an operating system. »This thread gives the details. Having a USB optical drive is very handy when problems occur.

The Lite-On eNAU108 retails for about $30-$40 (Amazon Link) which is a good price for a slim, external drive. Many internal optical drives are this price and given the portability of the eNAU108, it really helps to have an external drive in case of internal drive problems. Most systems from even years ago can boot off of USB drives. The eNAU108 is an excellent addition to any laptop without a DVDRW drive or the PC repairman's toolkit. The added benefit of not having to carry an AC adapter is a large plus for road warriors. Lite-On has an excellent product on their hands.